Blog

Antony Fisher on sound money

Antony Fisher, the founder of Atlas, was studying and writing about economics before the founding of the IEA or attending the Mont Pelerin Society. In or before 1948 he wrote: “Paper currencies are not foolproof and can be used to conceal unpleasant facts; on the other hand a gold currency cannot be tampered with by politicians. It cannot be devalued. It is therefore the best safeguard the public can have, for it has intrinsic value and if the public lose confidence in their politicians they can exercise an economic vote any minute.”

According to Antony, the government of a free society should follow to basic rules: the moral law “the golden rule” and the Rule of Law. A monetary system based on gold satisfied those rules. In his own words: “the government has a duty to see that it bases its laws on the accepted moral principles. Starting again from the basis that “we should do as we would be done by,” all laws made should apply equally to each individual in the state, as well as to the government itself. This is known as the Rule of Law and it is one of the principles of democracy. Without it democracy is no longer democracy.” (Case for Freedom, p. 8).

About

The Sound Money Project was founded in January 2009 to conduct research and promote awareness about monetary stability and financial privacy. It is a project of the American Institute for Economic Research.